Seasons Recovery Centers, Seasons in Malibu REVIEW: commitment to total customer satisfaction. Seasons Malibu past and current approach to business is focused on providing the highest quality alcoholism and addiction treatment services to their clients from around the world. High-end executive program for the busy professional, Three dimensional behavior treatment, Innovative & comprehensive family systemic program, A year’s worth of immersion therapy in one month, Tailor made program, Holistic Rehab, &Extensive and customized aftercare and outpatient program.
There is a drug and alchohol rehab center in Malibu Ca. called Seasons Recovery Center. Last November I checked my daughter into this place for treatment as they said they accepted our insurance. In addition I had to pay $18,000 in cash. I was told (in writting) that if they recovered more than $61,000 from my insurance company I would be reimbursed any overage up to the $18,000 I paid.
After two months of treatment my daughter had to leave because Seasons said the insurance coverage would not cover the expenses. I continued to follow up over the next few months, and found in May of 2012 my insurance company had overpaid by about $8,000 at that point. I spoke to the owner Dr. Sheila Shilati Psy.D and asked for a refund of the overpayment. She was so nice, and said of course we will send you a refund of the $8,000 and then if the insurance company continued to pay they would send me the remainder of the $18,000. Within 5 minutes of that nice email, I got another email from Dr. Shilati that said "oh gosh, my attorney said that since we filed bankruptcy a couple of months ago, we can't pay you, sorry".
So now Seasons has taken more money from my insurance company than they were owed, and refuse to pay me what they owe me. What a scam. I began to look further into these rehab centers and found that a group of investors gets together to buy a million dollar an up home in a location like Malibu, then lease that home back to their LLC which is the rehab center. They suck these poor families and alcoholics, drug addicts and mentally ill folks into their web, thinking this is a last resort and they can help my loved one. They take as much cash from these people and their families up front, pay for the real estate, and then file for bankruptcy when the time is right. They then go out form a new LLC and do it all over again making millions of dollars at the expense of the ill people they pretend to care for.
Another interesting point I discovered is that they overbill the insurance companies like crazy for anything they can get away with. I showed my daughter the billing recaps for weekly tests, treatments, medication, etc. and she says that she never got half of what they billed. I don't know if this is illegal, but I suspect it is. I am going to contact the Secretary of State to see what can be done.
Dr. Sheila Shilati Psy.D also is an owner of another rehab center called Serenity Malibu, and her Mother Minoo Shilati, Psy.D. owns a rehab called Vantage Point Recovery, also in California. Please don't get sucked into these scams. These are by no means the only ripoffs in the rehab industry, but certainly the ones that got me.
I would love to hear from others who have been ripped off. Maybe we can file a class action suit.
6 Updates & Rebuttals
dwl
Newbury Park,California,
United States of America
Response to Don Varden
#7Author of original report
Wed, February 13, 2013
Please see my response in Bold Italics.
Seasons did have this mans daughter in for treatment and there was an agreement to pay back insurance proceeds over a certain amount, which has been acknowledged. Almost everything else, however, about this complaint is either wrong, over-stated or just made up.
The truth is this client received excellent one-on-one treatment from our top-notch team of professionals and she never claimed otherwise during her stay. When I spoke to the father he admitted that his daughter thought the treatment was very good.
The question in this dispute has nothing to do with the treatment my daughter received. It is about the dishonest way we were treated in relation to the money owed to us. The deceptive way we were taken advantage of in order to get my daughter into treatment, and the dishonest way we have been treated long after you have collected exorbitant amounts of money from Anthem Blue Cross.
Further, there was not over-billing of her insurance company and Dr. Shilati is not the owner of any in-patient rehabilitation center and neither is her mother, who has nothing to do with either Seasons or Serenity Malibu. To say otherwise without any evidence is a cheap shot.
1. According to the records my insurance company provided my daughter received 8 hours of acupuncture each of several weeks during her stay. According to my daughter she received at most one acupuncture session during her entire stay.
2. The lab bills show multiple lab tests and blood draws each week which did not happen.
3. The insurance company was billed for physical therapy which she never received.
I could go on and on about the charges the insurance company received that are in dispute, but there is not enough room here to do that.
In addition I spoke to one of the mental health professionals on the staff of Seasons about these bills and I was told that: this is the way these types of facilities make their money. They know the insurance company will only pay them a portion of what they bill for, so they overbill in order to receive more money.
My insurance company sent me documents that indicated they had approved over $125,000 in charges for a two month stay.
Whether or not Shilati or her mother are owners I do not dispute. She led me to believe she was one of the owners during her initial sales pitch. There are youtube videos of her and her mother talking about their facilities.
Dr. Shelia Shilati is a very well respected member of the addiction community of professionals and all these baseless allegations about taking advantage of people and pejorative words like scam could not be further from the truth and are insulting and shameful.
Shelia Shilati was my primary contact during this nightmare. Not only did she lead me to believe she was one of the owners, but she assured me time after time that there would be no problem returning my $18,000 as soon as the insurance company paid more than $61,000. I have the emails to verify that these assurances took place months AFTER bankruptcy was filed. I asked for a partial payment after they had been overpaid by my insurance company by $9,000. And her response was that she would direct her finance person to cut me a check immediately! Wow, I thought, that is great. She copied me on the email she sent to her finance person. Then within 20 minutes I got another email from the good doctor saying: oh I am so sorry but we filed bankruptcy three months ago, and our lawyer says we cant pay you now. B.S.! I am expected to believe that within 20 minutes of her giving direction to her financial person, she was suddenly advised by her attorney not to pay me! And if in fact Ms. Shilati is such an astute Chief Operating Officer, why was she so unaware of the limitations put on her company by her own lawyer?
The entity that filed bankruptcy was called Seaside Recovery, not Seasons, and in the bankruptcy hearing their lawyer went to great lengths to convince the judge that Seaside was a completely independent operation and had nothing to do with Seasons or Luxury Rehab, or any of their other rehab operations. If that was the case, then why was I asked to make the $18,000 check out to Seaside and not Seasons when admitting my daughter? When I questioned that I was told by Darrel, their intake person that oh they are all the same it is just for accounting purposes. But get into court, and oh no they are completely different operations and have nothing to do with each other. The scam goes on! It appears that all the expenses went into one entity (Seaside) and all the profits into others (Seasons, Luxury, Serenity, etc), so when the time is right just file bankruptcy on the one that owes all the money, and walk away from your obligations.
The sad part of all of this is that these places prey on poor families that will do anything they can to take care of their loved ones, and believe the promises they are made at the most vulnerable time of their lives, how despicable! These people walk away (or drive away in there Mercedes Benz) laughing all the way to the bank.
I invite anyone who is considering help for themselves or a loved one to come and take a tour of our beautiful facilities, meet with the staff, ask any question they would like and then make their own decision if Seasons is right for them.
I dont dispute that their facilities are beautiful (paid for by suckers like me!). And I agree that you should ask all the questions you can, including: have any entities associated with Seasons or the owners of Seasons ever declared bankruptcy, or been parties to any lawsuit or claim of fraud or violation of any code related to the operation of those facilities. Ask why, if your insurance company covers the treatment, they require you to pay cash up front in order to enroll yourself or your loved one. What entities will bill your insurance company for the services rendered, and if more than one, why and what association does that operation have with Seasons (or their other operations). Too bad I was so trusting.
Seasons in Malibu and our sister facility Serenity Malibu are world-class rehabilitation centers and, unfortunately, this man is just trying to muddy our name because we did not get his overage back to him as fast as we would have liked.
You are correct Mr. Varden that you did not get my overage back to me as fast as I would have liked. As a matter of fact you have continued to collect money from my insurance company as recently as three or four months ago. Far over the $61,000 originally agree to, and yet have made no attempt to repay me a penny of the $18,000 owed. I am not trying to muddy your name, but simply provide a little clarity for those poor souls that may continue to fall for your scam.
I continue to invite others that have had similar experiences to post them on this and other websites in order to get the word out.
All I want is for these people to live up to their obligations and repay what they owe, I dont think that is too much to ask.
Don Varden
Malibu,California,
United States of America
From the CEO
#7REBUTTAL Owner of company
Wed, February 13, 2013
Seasons did have this mans daughter in for treatment and there was an agreement to pay back insurance proceeds over a certain amount, which has been acknowledged. Almost everything else, however, about this complaint is either wrong, over-stated or just made up.
The truth is this client received excellent one-on-one treatment from our top-notch team of professionals and she never claimed otherwise during her stay. When I spoke to the father he admitted that his daughter thought the treatment was very good.
Further, there was not over-billing of her insurance company and Dr. Shilati is not the owner of any in-patient rehabilitation center and neither is her mother, who has nothing to do with either Seasons or Serenity Malibu. To say otherwise without any evidence is a cheap shot.
Dr. Shelia Shilati is a very well respected member of the addiction community of professionals and all these baseless allegations about taking advantage of people and pejorative words like scam could not be further from the truth and are insulting and shameful.
I invite anyone who is considering help for themselves or a loved one to come and take a tour of our beautiful facilities, meet with the staff, ask any question they would like and then make their own decision if Seasons is right for them.
Seasons in Malibu and our sister facility Serenity Malibu are world-class rehabilitation centers and, unfortunately, this man is just trying to muddy our name because we did not get his overage back to him as fast as we would have liked.
shell
Seattle,Washington,
United States of America
Just sent you an e-mail
#7Consumer Comment
Mon, July 02, 2012
Dear "Parent,"
I just saw your response to my post. I sent you an e-mail with my information along with the link for my posting on this site. Please feel free to contact me as I'd love to discuss this issue with you.
Sincerely,
"Shell"
dwl
Newbury Park,California,
United States of America
Contact
#7Author of original report
Fri, June 01, 2012
Shell,
I could not find your original report, but would be very interested in speaking to you. You can contact me at david@nastec.com
shell
Seattle,Washington,
United States of America
Postscript and correction
#7Consumer Comment
Wed, May 30, 2012
My post was under Season's Malibu Rehab...
shell
Seattle,Washington,
United States of America
This Report is True - I had the same experience
#7Consumer Comment
Wed, May 30, 2012
Dear "Parent,"
Please see my report on this same website under Season's Rehab. My family suffered the same injustices, and more, at the hand of Season's. We were bilked out of $70,000, and found out after we paid all cash that we were billing our insurance, and trying to collect duplicate payments when we had paid for the rehab in full. Not only that, they also got a credit card number of our's and made charges which we disputed and prevailed against Season's. Dr. Sheila Modir was the individual that fraudulently charged our credit card for services not rendered. Please respond to my post as I would be more than willing to talk to you in private regarding a possible lawsuit against these criminals. I already hired an attorney, and found that the ownder "Tony" has a large criminal history, and is quite adept at forming LLC's, bilking people of large sums of money, than filing bankruptcy and starting all over again. At the time our child was at this horrific place, fighting for his life, the pseudo-CEO was a man named Christopher Bathum - check out his insane ramblings on the web where he talks about all of the parties involved in Season's fraudulent acts - Tony, Don, etc. - all of whom ended up being involved in multiple lawsuits. Mr. Bathum's insane ramblings which will shed some light on this situation can be found at this link - http://christopherjamesbathum.com/wordpress/?page_id=50. Quite a sick man, and truly evil. I think his writings will give you a good laugh after you cry over the grave injustice these individuals have perpetrated against families suffering to heal their loved one's from addiction. I offer you my sympathy and support. If you respond to this site and give me some way to contact you I would be happy to discuss the matter in detail, and share the information that my attorney found out about these crooks. Best of luck...another parent that was ripped off.